Origins of BuddhismUnlike most world religions, Buddhsim is so flexible that it has survived
by evolving and adapting to the needs of its diverse following. As Buddhism
spread, it absorbed or coexisted with local religions, creating some
distinctive yet interrelated forms with unique rituals. Thus Buddhism
cannot be categorized as a strictly homogeneous faith. Rather, it resembles
a living organism, evolving while keeping its original essence.

To some extent, Buddhism developed as a reaction to Brahmanism, now
known as Hinduism, a religion introduced in India around 1500 B.C. The
Aryan people entered the Indus River Valley and overran the native inhabitants,
the Dravidian people. Aryan Brahmanism, or Hinduism, then shaped all
aspects of social and religious life. It created a social structure
based on castes. This structure segregated people primarily by color
and occupation into the following categores: the Brahmins, or priests
and sages; the Kshatriyas, or warriors and rulers; the Vaishyas, or
merchants; and the Shudras, or laborers. Anyone outside the castes was
impure or an outcaste. Women belonged to the castes in which
their fathers were placed and then the castes of their husbands. However,
within these castes, women held no real power.

In Brahmanism, salvation meant breaking up the cycle of rebirths,
or transmigration, that condemned the soul to perpetual suffering. The
soul was believed to have the potential to reach the ultimate state
of nonexistence based on the individuals karma, or good and evil
deeds, which determine future lives. These beliefs served to justify
the caste system. Buddhism arose as an alternative path to salvation
for those who could not perform Brahmanic rituals due to their lower
caste status, which condemned them to samsara, the endless cycle of
death and rebirth.